Workshop on Education, Employment, and Research in China
On August 4, I was invited to participate in the research workshop “University Education, Employment, and Scientific Research in China”, organized by Prof. James Lee at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
The workshop brought together about a dozen historians from Jiao Tong University, Nanjing University, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, representing different career stages — from PhD students and postdoctoral fellows to early-career and senior scholars. Presentations covered a range of topics, including Chinese domestic university students (Han Haozhe, Wu Yibei) and scientific elites (Zuo You), overseas students in Japan (Yang Li) and the United States (Cécile Armand, Liang Chen, Tan Mohan), as well as post-1980 postdoctoral fellows (Shengbin Wei, Dongqian Liu, James Z. Lee). The following discussions addressed transversal questions such as social and educational backgrounds, post-graduation careers, and employment patterns.
This seminal workshop laid the groundwork for a new research group established by James Lee to pioneer an ambitious research program triangulating education, motivation, opportunities, and achievements. The program’s framework has three main ambitions:
1. To challenge the mainstream history of science, which is often dominated by a hagiographic perspective centered on the most famous scientists.
2. To decenter and strengthen Bourdieusian sociology by adopting a comparative perspective centered on China, combined with an empirical, systematic approach relying on “big historical data.”
3. To bridge past and present by demonstrating the relevance of social history for understanding long-term social change and informing future educational and employment policies.
To be continued!
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Cécile Armand (11 août 2025). Workshop on Education, Employment, and Research in China. ADVERTISING HISTORY. Consulté le 14 novembre 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/14h0c



